


High Tension

by Dreamshaper



Series: Workplace Romance [3]
Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, and annoying ghosts, bit of angst again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-16 17:31:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8111137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamshaper/pseuds/Dreamshaper
Summary: Erin and Holtzmann are happy together, busting ghosts goes as well as ever and everything is just close to perfect. So of course something has to happen to bring old pains back to the surface and to lead Erin to a confrontation with her past.





	1. Chapter 1

If someone had told Erin, before she had reunited with Abby and had met Holtzmann, how good life would be, she would perhaps not have laughed in their face – she had been too polite and insecure for that, back then – but she would have doubted them; and even though this state of almost perfect happiness had lasted for several months now, she still found it hard to believe every now and then, and wondered if she’d ever get used to it.

People finally believed her, _them_ , about the realness of ghosts; they were actually paid to bust said ghosts, funded by the government, she got to work with her best friends – and she was in a happy relationship with the team’s very own mad scientist, something she would have thought of as impossible a year ago, when she had been aware that she wasn’t just attracted to men, but had pretended otherwise, to fit in with people she had considered her peers back then.

They had their bumps in the road, as every couple had, but there weren’t many of those bumps, and if they encountered one, they dealt with it without too much drama; so far, they hadn’t had a real fight once, just what Holtzmann called “vehement arguments”, and Erin was quite fine with that, and hoped it would go on like that for a while, if possible, forever, finding herself unable to imagine life without Holtzmann by her side anymore – or, as she thought about it, without Abby and Patty, but these weren’t the people she woke up next to every morning.

By now, she had more or less officially moved into the fire station with Holtzmann; they hadn’t really spoken about it, it had just happened, but Erin sort of had made it official when she had told Holtzmann that she wouldn’t renew the lease on her apartment, and the engineer’s answer had been to kiss her quite passionately – and then ask her if she needed any help moving her stuff, and that had been it.

They hadn’t made a big announcement about it, hadn’t even pointed it out in particular to Abby and Patty; the two had noticed though quite quickly though, and had insisted on throwing them a “moving in together” party, because, according to Abby, this was a big step for any couple, and should be celebrated.

Erin had refrained from replying that she wouldn’t know, she never had gotten that far in a relationship, but judging from how Holtzmann had put her hand on the redhead’s back, she had guessed her thoughts pretty accurately – something she was getting better and better at, the longer they were together – and the brief, but gentle touch had been just what Erin had needed back then, to silently reassure her that it was okay and that this didn’t make her weird or abnormal.

And not only was their relationship going just perfectly well, but their work together developed just as fine; Holtzmann was a bit more careful now – not much, but at least enough to keep explosions in the lab down to a minimum, especially when Erin was around – and their reports and papers were published in journals all over the country, the scientific community finally starting to take them seriously.

All in all, everything was close to perfect; Erin still struggled with her anxiety and insecurities, but even this had gotten better, and she knew that these things needed time, and Holtzmann was there for her the best she could whenever those nasty little voices got the better of her or whenever a panic attack sneaked up on her, holding her when she needed it and giving her space when that was what she preferred (the latter option happening much less than the first one).

Everything was close to perfect, and so, Erin would think to herself later on, when the shock had faded, of course she should have known that _something_ was going to happen; even if she had thought of it though, she never would have been ready for what had happened, in the end, not even months of being a Ghostbuster could have prepared her for that.

The day on which the hammer dropped started out perfectly normal, too, like so many others in the past months; it began with her waking up before Holtzmann, as she usually did, and as she so often did, she snuggled closer to her girlfriend and started placing tender kisses on her neck and jawline and cheeks, until Holtzmann let out a mixture of grunt and snore and her eyes opened – and without missing a beat, surprisingly energetic, considering she just had woken up, the engineer rolled over, tossed one arm over Erin’s waist and placed a big, wet smack on her cheek, earning a giggle from the physicist.

“That was wet”, she then said, wiping at her face with exaggeration, “are you sure that were just your lips, or did you get some tongue in there, too?”

“Erin”, Holtzmann replied, eyes widening comically, one hand even going to her heart in a gesture of pure drama, “I am shocked you would think I’d lick your face. When have I ever licked your face?”

“Last Thursday”, Erin told her at once, “you claimed I had pudding on my face and you licked me.”

“Should have known your brilliant mind wouldn’t have forgotten this”, Holtzmann sighed, flopping back onto the pillow; Erin laughed, then snuggled up to her, nuzzling her neck for a moment before she replied. “I didn’t, but I almost repressed it. If you had waited just a day longer…”

And then, she did something she had learned to do more and more ever since she had started dating this amazingly brilliant and amazingly eccentric whirlwind of a woman – she gave in to a sudden impulse and let her tongue dart out and licked Holtzmann’s neck, and the startled squawk she elicited with that action made her giggle so hard that it almost brought tears to her eyes.

“Okay”, she then said, before Holtzmann could get the idea that she had to get revenge for this, “we better get out of bed and the coffee started, or Abby will be cranky.”

“You just want to avoid my revenge for what you just did”, Holtzmann demonstrated how well she knew her by now, prompting her to respond with the most angelic face she could put on, complete with innocent whistling; and again she thought, if anyone had told her a year ago that this would happen, that she’d wake up next to a woman she was in a relationship with and would spend the first ten minutes of this new day acting as a complete dork, she wouldn’t have believed them, and yet here she was, doing just that, and enjoying herself immensely.

“Maybe”, she finally conceded, at the same instant hopping out of bed, just in case, “but you’ll never prove that.”

“Pah”, Holtzmann let out, got out of bed as well though – and kept Erin from moving to the bathroom by grasping the shirt she wore to sleep and pulling her close for a good morning kiss, a quick and innocent one, the engineer well aware of the fact that her partner was no big fan of deep, passionate kissing when both of them had morning breath.

“There”, the blonde mumbled after the kiss, smiling that certain smile only Erin ever got to see, the physicist perfectly unaware that she had one of those, as well, a small, but genuinely happy one which often curled her lips after they had kissed or during snuggle time, “ _now_ we can get the day started. Can’t let you go out of this room without a good morning kiss, can I.”

“That is against some sort of law, I think”, Erin nodded solemnly, earning a smirk this time; the redhead smiled back at her partner, then led the way into the bathroom, Holtzmann right behind her, the couple going through their morning routine with practiced ease there, feeling comfortable and happy with each other, perfectly unaware of the unpleasant events waiting for them right around the corner.

* * *

 

After breakfast, the four of them had their weekly team-meeting – something Abby had declared they needed to do, to speak about their progress on their tasks and, as she had put it, to make sure Holtzmann and Erin weren’t cooped up in the upstairs lab all day long; the couple presented the newest weapon they were working on together, a revised edition of the proton shotgun which would make an even bigger boom than the original (only harmful to ghosts, Holtzmann kept reassuring), then Patty presented the results of her research on possibly haunted sites.

Abby would have been last to talk about what she was working on how that was going; she had been planning to show her blueprints for the new and improved version of the PKE meter, but before she could do so, Kevin interrupted, the way he carefully moved closer, so unlike his usual stride, immediately clueing all four of them in that something was amiss.

“Um, Erin, boss?” he started, looking so fantastically uncomfortable that it immediately made Erin nervous, and immediately, Holtzmann picked up on that, reaching over to grasp her hand and earning a brief, but grateful look before they all focused on Kevin again, who swallowed noticeably before he continued, the way he delivered the news showing that he was much more aware of their various backgrounds than they so far had been aware of.

“Um, phone, for you”, he said, still uncomfortable, and as he spoke on, Erin was glad that her coffee cup was on the table in front of her and that she wasn’t holding it, certain that she would have dropped it at the reveal. “It’s your mother.”


	2. Chapter 2

“I can talk to her”, Abby offered without missing a beat, while Holtzmann’s fingers tightened slightly around her hand, giving a reassuring squeeze, “just to find out what she wants?”

“It’s okay”, Erin forced herself to say, telling herself that she could do this, she was a grown woman after all, working in a respected field – and a field she had pretty much had helped founding, no less – so surely, she could handle talking to her mother, and nevermind that they hadn’t spoken for years.

“Tell her I’ll be there in a minute”, she added, making Kevin nod before he walked off, back to his desk; he still looked uncomfortable, but a bit relieved, and it made Erin wonder if her mother had said something to him, or if he just had picked up on how bad her relationship with her parents was and that was making him feel this way.

She took in a deep breath, feeling Holtzmann’s thumb run over her knuckles in an attempt to calm her down; she smiled weakly at her partner, earning a reassuring smile in response, then forced herself to get up from her seat, not surprised the slightest when immediately, Holtzmann got up with her, refusing to let go of her hand.

“Just so you know, hot stuff”, the engineer told her as they made their way to Kevin’s desk together, the young man holding the phone awkwardly in one hand, and not anywhere close to his ear, Erin noted, apparently not eager to speak to her mother further, “the moment you start looking uncomfortable or something, I’ll rip the phone cord out of the wall.”

“You can just hang up instead”, Erin pointed out, smiling slightly, doing exactly what Holtzmann had been aiming for with her words; the engineer shrugged and winked, and then they had reached the desk and Erin had to take the phone, another deep breath necessary before she could bring herself to do so.

“Hello”, she said the first thing which came to her mind, giving her best to sound very neutral and calm; she felt Holtzmann let go of her hand, and felt bad for a second, then the engineer’s hand was on her back, rubbing soothing circles there, and she felt better again at once, even though her chest felt strangely tight when her mother’s voice greeted her.

“I know it’s been a while since we spoke”, the elder woman went on, as if their last talk hadn’t happened years ago and had ended in yelling and tears, “but, well, we saw you on TV, after that… mess in the city, so…”

“That was months ago”, Erin pointed out in reply, to her own relief managing to keep her voice calm, even though a strange mixture of anxiety and annoyance was starting to come up; her mother cleared her throat in response, at least having the decency to sound a bit ashamed when she replied.

“Yes, well”, she said, “your father and I were… busy. They did say on the TV that you saved the city, with these colleagues of yours, is that true?”

“Yes”, Erin replied, keeping her answer short, not wanting to go into detail about this, not on the phone and certainly not with her mother; and as she still wondered if that was the only reason why her mother was calling, the elder woman spoke on, and her heart clenched up at once and her breath quickened and she could barely feel Holtzmann rubbing her back anymore, completely missed the concerned look the engineer shot her.

“Well, anyway”, her mother was saying, sounding inappropriately cheerful, again making Erin wonder if she had forgotten how their last talk had ended, “your father has some business in New York next week, and we were wondering if maybe, you’d like to have lunch or dinner? It’s been a while since we’ve seen you, after all.”

_Yes, and whose fault is that,_ was what Erin wanted to say; what did she say though was much more polite, and somehow, she managed to keep the anxiety out of her voice, not quite sure if this was her own doing or if it was caused by Holtzmann’s hand on her back, still rubbing there tenderly.

“Sure”, Erin said, even though the last thing she wanted was to have lunch with her parents, she’d rather get slimed on by a whole armada of ghosts before she’d sit down with Richard and Eleanor Gilbert for lunch, but she couldn’t come up with an excuse fast enough, “um… if we’re not… called to a bust. That happens a lot, you know.”

“Of course, dear”, her mother replied, and it was in that tone, that certain tone she’d had whenever Erin had tried to tell her about the ghost standing at the foot of her bed night after night, “we will call you again when your father knows his schedule. Where can we reach you?”

Erin knew that her mother was aiming to be given her cell phone number, but she wasn’t very willing to hand that over; and so, she told her that she could just reach her at the headquarter, and that Kevin would take a message if she happened to be out for a bust or busy.

“Oh, alright then”, her mother replied, clearly taken aback a bit, and for some reason, this felt like a small victory to Erin, “I’ll call at your… headquarters then. Well! It was nice talking to you, Erin, your father and I are looking forward to seeing you.”

“Sure”, Erin said again, not quite what her mother had expected, from the small startled noise which escaped her – and that definitely was a victory, Erin thought, her mother hardly ever made such noises, usually having too much self-control to let them slip out like that, “call once you know. I have work to do now though so…”

“Yes, of course”, Eleanor replied, still sounding a bit taken aback, “don’t let me keep you any longer. See you soon.”

“Bye”, Erin replied, then hung up the phone; and the moment the receiver laid on the cradle, she turned and looked at Holtzmann, and immediately, Holtzmann wrapped both arms around her and held her, rubbing her back and just being there, not asking, waiting until Erin was ready to tell her on her own terms.

“…I agreed to have lunch with them”, Erin finally did so, “or dinner, that wasn’t quite specified. It’s been years since I spoke to them, the last time we did speak before today, I ended up a crying mess and had a massive panic attack, and now I agreed to have lunch with them. Or dinner. That wasn’t specified.”

“I’d suggest lunch”, Holtzmann gave back, still rubbing her back, “that’s usually shorter than dinner. Or you can make up an excuse when they do call to set a date and not go after all.”

“I should go”, Erin sighed, giving her an unhappy look, “I mean, they are my parents, right? And I can do one lunch with them, they’ll go back to Michigan after that and hopefully stay there for another ten years or so.”

“Well, I haven’t talked to my father for more than a decade, so I’m not the best person to ask”, Holtzmann replied, and Erin immediately realized that the light tone with which she said these words was just as fake as her own calm voice had been minutes ago, “but you know I’ll be here for you no matter what you decide to do, right?”

“Yes”, Erin told her at once, deciding to not inquire further about Holtzmann’s comment regarding her father – or why the engineer hadn’t even mentioned her mother, sensing that her partner wasn’t quite willing to say more about this yet, “I know, and thank you. I’d… I’d like you to come with me.”

“Sure”, Holtzmann reassured her immediately, earning a slight smile, “anything you want, Sweetheart. Just tell me when and where and I’ll be right there, and if they’re dicks to you, I’m gonna let angry Holtz off the leash. It’s gonna like a hulk-out, but less green and way cooler.”

“Don’t traumatize them”, Erin replied with a small laugh, trying to imagine Holtzmann angry and failing – she had seen her pissed off once, when a ghost had taken possession of her and had made her say terrible things to the engineer and their friends, but she couldn’t recall ever seeing Holtzmann truly enraged.

“Can’t guarantee nothing”, Holtzmann told her, smirking as she pulled back to look at her, only for her expression to grow serious again as their eyes met, her voice softer than usual and uncharacteristically solemn too when she went on. “You sure you okay though? You gripped the receiver kinda hard there for a while, I actually started to worry it might break.”

“I’m fine”, Erin reassured her, making her smile again, “actually, it shook me up much less than I thought it would. I did keep it short though so…”

She still felt curious about the brief comment Holtzmann had made about her father, but knew better than to just outright ask; she figured that it was already kind of a big deal that Holtzmann had mentioned this to her, the engineer never before having said anything about her family, and she didn’t want to risk the trust this displayed by prying and pressuring.

“I’ll go to that lunch with you”, Holtzmann reassured her, patting her back as if to underline her own words, “and in case they get unfriendly, or pushy, or whatever, I’ll just throw you over my shoulder and carry you off.”

“If Abby or Patty had said that”, Erin told her, her turn to smirk now, “I would doubt out loud if they can do that. I know you though, and so, I fear you might demonstrate that you can do it if I doubt it, so I won’t.”

“I totally would”, Holtzmann nodded sincerely, glad that she had managed to put a smile on her partner’s face again, “so it’s a good thing you didn’t doubt me.”

Erin let out a little laugh, then pulled the engineer closer again for a brief, but gentle kiss; and afterwards, she just held on to her for a bit, mumbling “Thank you” into her ear, Holtzmann rubbing her back again and reassuring her that it would be okay, until the redhead felt ready to join the rest of the team again.


	3. Chapter 3

The days passed much faster than Erin would have liked, thanks to their busy schedule; they worked on their projects, busted a bunch of ghosts, her mother called to set a date for their lunch, and then, said date was there, Erin already nervous when she opened her eyes that morning.

_Calm down_ , she told herself, even though she already knew this wouldn’t help much, not when her palms were sweating and her heart was beating faster than usual before she even had gotten out of bed, _it’s gonna be fine, Holtz is going to be there with you, it’s all going to be okay._

As if Holtzmann had somehow heard her think about her, she grunted, then rolled over so she could lazily grope for Erin; her hand encountered the physicist’s arm, and she stopped, then opened one eye, mumbling something into her pillow Erin couldn’t quite understand.

“What?” she thus inquired, raising an eyebrow, trying hard to not let it show how nervous she was already, “I didn’t quite catch that, honey. And also, good morning.”

“No smoochies”, Holtzmann repeated, after she had lifted her head off the pillow just enough to be capable of proper speech, “there were no smoochies to wake me. I woke on my own.”

“Sorry”, Erin apologized, even managing a slight smile as she laid on her side, then moved one hand to tenderly run it down Holtzmann’s arm, “you woke before there could be smoochies.”

“Your hand is sweaty”, the engineer noted, looking concerned for a moment – then her brain caught up with her and she realized what day it was, her eyes briefly widening. “Oh, Jesus. Today is the day, isn’t it. I completely forgot, I’m sorry.”

“No caffeine in your system yet, so you’re easily forgiven”, Erin reassured her, making her smile again, “but yes, today is the day, and I’m nervous already. I know it’s dumb, but…”

“Nah”, Holtzmann replied, with a dismissive wave of her hand, “it’s not dumb. You haven’t talked to them in years, of course you’re nervous. I bet they are too.”

A sharp bark of laughter escaped Erin at that, earning her a raised eyebrow from Holtzmann, this laughter having been so unlike her usual one that it was uncanny; momentarily, the engineer wondered if her girlfriend was possessed (again), then Erin shook her head and explained herself, at least taking those concerns away.

“Richard and Eleanor Gilbert don’t get nervous”, the physicist let her partner know, “I doubt they are physically capable of that emotion. You’ll see when you meet them. They are very… controlled.”

“Well, you know”, Holtzmann replied, propping her head up one hand to avoid further pillow-mumbling, “they might let that control slip when you fill them in about what is going on in your life. I mean, not only are you a government-funded ghostbuster, you’re also in a relationship with another woman, they’re not aware of that, are they?”

“I doubt it”, Erin gave back, thinking back to her tearful confession in the rain months ago, “you know, I was… pretty sure that I’m not exactly straight quite early on, but… I never told them about that, and never really acted on it, either. Until you came along. You’re right, that actually might make them lose their cool there, for a minute.”

“Just for a minute?” Holtzmann wanted to know, with a little chuckle, “are you sure they are human and not robots?”

“Mostly”, Erin replied sincerely, earning another laugh; she smiled back at her partner, feeling much better already – even though the thought of introducing Holtzmann to her parents as her girlfriend made her nervous again, she told herself that she could do this, especially with said woman by her side.

“Okay”, she said, not sure if she was trying to prep-talk Holtzmann or herself, “we should get up I guess, and get ready for this. Promise you will hulk out at them and then carry me out over your shoulder in case they are horrible?”

“Promise”, Holtzmann gave back, pulling her closer for a brief kiss afterwards; they smiled at each other, Erin slightly amazed at how quickly her partner always could make her feel better, her heart back to a more normal pace and the sweat vanished from her palms when she finally got out of bed, yet again telling herself that she could do this and that everything would be fine.

* * *

 

It didn’t surprise Erin that her parents had made reservations at a rather fancy place, figuring that some things never changed; they were there early, but she just knew that her parents already would be there, too, an assumption which turned out to be correct, her mother spotting her the moment they entered the restaurant and waving at them.

Her parents hadn’t changed much, Erin noted, as she walked to where they were sitting, Holtzmann right behind her; there was a bit more grey in her father’s hair, and her mother looked a tad older, as well, but other than that, they were still the same, her father wearing his usual expression of mild disinterest while her mother managed a smile, even though said smile began to fade a bit when she got a closer look at Holtzmann, the engineer wearing one of her usual outfits and of course her yellow tinted glasses, looking so different to the other guests that Erin would have laughed, had she not been so nervous.

“Erin”, her mother greeted, halfway rising out of her seat, then apparently changing her mind and sinking down onto it, “you brought a friend? How nice. Why don’t you introduce us.”

“Holtzmann”, Holtzmann introduced herself, Erin holding back an amused snort when she noticed the way her mother’s eyebrow twitched at the slightly manic grin the blonde was displaying, “nice to meet you.”

“Dr Jillian Holtzmann”, Erin added, struggling to keep her voice calm, “my partner.”

“Oh you work together”, her mother replied, completely missing the point, “in the Ghostbusters thing, right? Well, nice to meet you, Dr Holtzmann.”

“Yes, we do work together”, the physicist confirmed, trying not to sound exasperated, “Holtzmann is our nuclear engineer, design and builds our gear, but that’s… not what I meant when I said she’s my partner.”

She had a moment to wonder if she had to spell it out for her parents, perhaps say something crass like “We’re sleeping together”; then, her mother’s eyes briefly widened, and her father raised an eyebrow, and she knew that they had gotten the general idea when Eleanor let out an “Oh!”, looking at Holtzmann again afterwards as if she was seeing her for the first time.

“Well”, she then said, now looking a bit uncomfortable while Erin’s father remained quiet, the mild disinterest having returned to his features, “that is… an interesting new development. Please, do sit down, it looks awkward with the two of you just standing there.”

They sat, and Erin was more than glad that she had asked Holtzmann to come – her parents were sitting side by side, and if she had come alone, she would have been facing them like some sort of jury at a trial.

A waiter came over the moment their butts touched the seat, and asked them what they wanted to drink while he handed the lunch menus to them; and after the drinks had been ordered, and the waiter had retreated, there was awkward silence for a few moments, until Eleanor spoke up again, and Erin could tell immediately that she was trying hard to sound chipper and friendly, and figured that her mind was still reeling from the more or less casual reveal that their daughter was dating another woman.

“So”, the elder woman said, picking up her napkin and toying with it for a moment before she seemed to realize what she was doing and put it back down, making Holtzmann wonder if Erin had gotten that habit from her or if she had developed it on her own, “it has been a while since we spoke. It seems like quite a bit changed in your life since then.”

“Yes”, Erin confirmed, suddenly unable to hold a bit of snark back, and wondering if that was Holtzmann rubbing off on her, “the biggest two probably being the confirmation that I was not insane when I saw that ghost standing at the end of my bed, and meeting Holtzmann. Let me reassure you that both things were quite good for my mental health.”

“We never said or implied that you are insane”, Richard spoke up for the first time since they had sat down with them; he sounded somewhat bored, and as disinterested as he looked, and all at once, Erin wasn’t just feeling snarky anymore, but angry, glaring at him across the table, barely registering that Holtzmann was putting one hand on her thigh in an attempt to help her keep her calm.

“You sent me to a therapist”, the physicist reminded them, “for years. And even after we saved the city, from a whole army of ghosts no less, it still took you months to call. Did it take you that long to accept that what you did to me was wrong?”

“Lower your voice, Erin, please”, Eleanor gave back, looking around in dismay, “people are already starting to look. Surely you understand that we couldn’t just believe your wild tales back then, don’t you? I’m not sure what you want to accomplish with attacking us like that.”

“An apology would be a good start”, Erin shot back, not quite sure where this sudden willingness to confront her parents like that came from, but deciding to make use of it for as long as it was there, “and don’t worry about people looking, it’s more likely that they stare because they recognize Holtz and me and not because I’m not a bit louder than they are. Let me remind you again that we saved the city.”

“Perhaps the world”, Holtzmann threw in, smiling charmingly at the look Richard shot her for that little addendum, “cause if those ghosts had been allowed to run free, wow, that would have been bad. They might be ghosts, but they do pack a punch.”

“That is all well and good”, Richard replied, giving the engineer a look of disdain which made Erin’s blood boil, “but if you only came to attack us, Erin, you might as well have not agreed to this lunch at all. Your mother and I were hoping we could find a consensus of sorts which would allow us to speak more regularly again.”

A million possible responses shot through Erin’s mind at that, but before she could choose one of them and say it, her phone vibrated in her pocket; from how Holtzmann jumped slightly next to her, she could tell that the engineer’s phone was doing the same, both of them knowing who was calling without even having to look.

“I’ll take it”, Erin told her at the questioning look she gave her; Eleanor started to protest, tried to point out that this was highly impolite, but Erin ignored her, taking the call while Holtzmann let her parents know that it was work related.

“Abby”, Erin greeted her friend, then just listened as Abby rapidly told her about the reason why she had called her and Patty at the same time had tried to reach Holtzmann; her parents watched her with almost identical frowns, said frowns only deepening when Erin finally spoke up again. “We’ll meet you there, as fast as possible. Alright. Bye.”

She ended the call and put the phone back in her pocket, nodding when Holtzmann asked “Bust?”, then looked at her parents again, not surprised to see them frowning, but suddenly not caring much anymore, the lifelong need for their approval which had had a big part in so many of her troubles all at once gone, as if it never had been there.

“We have to go”, she let them know, “sorry, but duty calls. Have a good time in New York.”

“Erin”, her mother tried to protest, but her father placed one hand on his wife’s arm and shook his head, while Erin came to her feet; Holtzmann did the same, saluting the couple in her usual fashion and with one of her trademark smirks, then the two of them headed out of the restaurant without looking back, Erin silently thanking whichever ghost responsible for this interruption, not quite sure what else she might have said to her parents, had they not been called to action.


	4. Chapter 4

The ghost had chosen an antique bookstore as its haunting ground, and that gave it ample ammunition to bombard the Ghostbusters with; and to make it even worse, the owner of the bookstore kept yelping at them to not damage the books, until Abby had enough of him and yelled at him to get the Hell out so they could work in peace.

“Remember when you said books can’t fly?” she then said as she ducked her head, another thick volume sailing past them, “looks like that ghost wants to prove you different!”

“Well they are not technically flying”, Erin pointed out, peering around a bookshelf and quickly pulling back when another thick and heavy book was hurled at her, “they are being thrown. And why are they all so thick and heavy?!”

“Cause it makes no sense to throw thin books?” Abby guessed, yelping a second later when a particular thick volume was hurled at them and slammed into the shelf right next to her head, sending more books tumbling to the ground, the shriek of the store’s owner audible even from where he was waiting outside on the sidewalk.

“That man has a very disturbing scream”, Erin commented, grimacing; Abby snorted and nodded, then dared to poke her head out again, and, seeing that the ghost at least for the moment had run out of ammunition, aimed and fired without missing a beat, the other three following suit, the ghost roaring in dismay when the proton beams ensnared it and kept it from floating to another shelf.

“Get ready to trap it!” Holtzmann called out, tossing the trap as close to the ghost as it was possible, “trap opens in three… two… one… _now_!”

She slammed her boot down onto the button which opened the trap, and immediately, they began working on getting the ghost close enough to it so it’d be sucked in; it shrieked in dismay and rage when it was drawn closer to the trap, then inside it, the shriek cut off when Holtzmann stepped down hard onto the button yet again and the trap snapped shut.

“Aaaand there goes another one”, she then said, holstering the proton gun and picking the trap up with a satisfied smirk; smiling, Erin moved over to her, unable to resist that smirk, Abby and Patty smirking to themselves, but holding back on any commentary, when the physicist planted a rather enthusiastic kiss right onto the engineer’s lips.

“Wasn’t there talk about no makin’ out on the job at some point?” Patty demanded, her smirk showing though that she wasn’t fully serious; Erin blushed, but Holtzmann just smirked back at her, then shrugged, holding up the trap as she replied.

“Ghost’s caught, job’s over”, she pointed out, “so we can make out all we like.”

“At least wait until we get back to headquarters”, Abby replied, “and cleaned up!”

“No one got slimed that time”, Erin shrugged, “but okay, fine, we’ll stop. For now.”

Abby rolled her eyes at her best friend, then slid the proton gun back into the holster on the pack; the four of them left the store together, telling the owner that his property was ghost-free once more, and he thanked them quite enthusiastically, even though his face fell considerably when he saw the books lying everywhere and the two shelves which had been thrown over in the skirmish.

“Sorry about that”, Patty said, and he sighed and shrugged, then told them it was okay, and that surely, they had given their best to catch the ghost without doing too much damage; Abby reassured him that they had, while Erin and Holtzmann already removed their packs and placed them in Ecto-1, Abby and Patty following suit, wishing the man a nice day before they all piled into the car and drove off, back to headquarters.

* * *

 

“I can’t believe I almost got hit in the head by a rare edition of Ulysses”, Patty laughed as she walked into HQ, “if it at least had been a book that makes sense! If you haven’t read that, guys, don’t try, it’s so weird and…”

She trailed off as she noticed Kevin stand there awkwardly; he cleared his throat, and from the way his gaze focused on her, Erin knew immediately that this had something to do with her, with her parents perhaps, an assumption she knew to be correct when their secretary spoke up. “Um, you guys have visitors, they are waiting in the lounge. Richard and Elsinore Gilbert?”

“Eleanor”, Erin corrected him, briefly considering to pull off her coveralls before she’d go greet them, then decided against it, figuring that they might as well see her in her work clothes; oddly grateful that she hadn’t gotten slimed this time, she took in a deep breath, and then, one brief glance at Holtzmann was enough to make the engineer move to her side, taking brief hold of her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“That ghost can go into the containment unit later”, the blonde then said, before Erin even had the chance to open her mouth, demonstrating once more how well she knew her by now, “let’s get this over with.”

Another deep breath, then Erin nodded, Abby moving to her other side while Patty brought up the rear; being surrounded by her friends like this made things much easier to handle for the physicist, and her steps were secure when she walked to what they had dubbed the lounge, irritated at her parents now for just showing up at her workplace like this, without invitation or warning.

“Oh, there you are”, her mother greeted as they four of them stepped into the lounge area, rising from her seat in Abby’s favourite armchair – and her father, Erin noted, had chosen the couch, the couch on which Holtzmann and she had snuggled countless nights and had made out quite a few times when Abby and Patty hadn’t been around; he didn’t get up, but just nodded at them, taking in their coveralls with a raised eyebrow.

“We weren’t quite sure how long these… busts take”, Eleanor commented, eying the group curiously, “but we figured that we might as well wait for you here, after how our lunch was cut short. Did your… thing go well?”

“Yup”, Holtzmann was the one to answer that, holding up the ghost trap, “got the ghost right in here. Don’t get too close to it, or you might let it out on accident.”

It wasn’t that easy to let the ghost out, they all knew; Erin’s parents didn’t know that though, and thus looked reasonably concerned when Holtzmann lowered the trap again, her mother finding it decidedly difficult to look away.

“And no, before you ask”, Erin threw in, making the elder woman look at her, “you can’t see the ghost. That never ends well.”

“We have no interest in seeing the ghost”, Richard told her, a bit stiffly, earning a warning look from his wife which he skilfully ignored though, “so this is where you do all your work? Quite the big place.”

“The government pays for it”, Erin replied, not bothering to hold back the pride she felt at saying those words, “and for anything else, really. We’re doing government-funded research here. The lab is up on the second floor, Holtzmann designs and builds our gear there, and I do my work up there, as well.”

“Why don’t you give us a little tour, dear”, Eleanor wanted to know in response, and even though she didn’t very much feel like doing just that, Erin had to appreciate that the elder woman had asked; she gave the others a questioning glance, and after they had shrugged and nodded, let out a vaguely agreeing noise.

“Don’t touch anything though”, she then warned, her father raising an eyebrow again at her stern tone, “especially not up in Holtz’ lab, alright, the stuff up there isn’t finish yet.”

“And highly unstable”, Holtzmann found it necessary to add, smiling her slightly manic smile again; Erin figured that she probably should stop her from freaking her parents out on purpose, a task she was accomplishing remarkably well with just a few well-chosen words, but on the other hand, she had to admit that she liked the way her father’s eyebrow twitched, knowing it might be a bit petty and mean-spirited to think like this, but unable to help herself, after all the things her parents had put her through.

“Follow me, then”, she said instead of stopping her partner from making such remarks; Holtzmann winked discreetly at her as she led the way to the staircase, and Erin smiled back at her, then led her parents upstairs, gesturing at the workbenches there and the various devices finished to a varying degree, her father looking around, for the first time displaying more than just disinterest.

Her mother took a brief look at her whiteboard, but, never having been into physics, lost interest quickly; she moved on to the nearest workbench and looked at the contraption lying there, prompting Erin to explain what it would be, once Holtzmann got done with it.

“This is the next generation ghost trap”, she let her mother know, “captures the ghosts faster and gives off less radiation. Hopefully. Holtz thinks she’ll have it ready for testing in a few days.”

“So you’re dating this woman”, her mother immediately latched on to the mention of Holtzmann, “but you call her by her last name? That is strange.”

“Everyone calls her that”, Erin shrugged, not quite sure why her mother would ask her that, of all things, “I’ve never called her anything else, so it’d feel weird to change that now.”

“How long has this been going on?” Eleanor wanted to know, while Richard moved to another table, taking a closer look at the contraption lying there, “and is it serious?”

“If you ask me if that is some sort of weird phase now, I’m throwing you out”, Erin replied, feeling a bit of malicious glee again at how taken aback her mother looked once more, “it has been going on for a while, and yes, it is serious. We live here together.”

“That is a lot of time you spend together”, her father commented behind them, prompting them both to turn and look at him, Erin feeling a bit alarmed when she saw how close to the worktable he was standing, “but I imagine you are old enough to know what you are doing. I have to say, these designs are quite brilliant.”

“Thanks, but it’s not just me”, Holtzmann’s voice came from the doorway, making both Richard and Eleanor jump while Erin just smiled, by now well aware of her partner’s hidden skill to enter a room so silently no one knew she was there until she said something, “Erin does all the calculations and equations to make sure I don’t blow myself up, I couldn’t do it without her.”

As she spoke, she moved to where Erin was standing, and casually put one arm around the redhead’s waist; and without thinking, Erin returned the gesture, noting how her mother’s eyebrow briefly twitched, the elder woman refraining from making any comment though, to the relief of the physicist.

“Well, that’s the lab”, she said, vaguely gesturing at said space with her free arm, “you’ve already seen downstairs, and in the cellar, we have the containment units, but those are rather boring to look at and also a bit dangerous, so I’m not going to show you those.”

“If you’re in the same room with those units longer than an hour”, Holtzmann found it necessary to add, apparently still eager to freak the two elder people out, “your hair might start to fall out, and I doubt either of you would look good bald.”

At this, Eleanor looked decidedly worried again, while Richard cleared his throat; then, he mumbled something about they should probably get back to the hotel, glancing around uneasily, and Erin fought hard to not her relief show, just wanting to get this over with before her parents said or did something after all which would destroy the fragile truce they had formed.

“Maybe you can all visit us in Michigan some time”, her mother said as they went back downstairs, “when… you are not so busy. Hunting ghosts.”

“We’ll see”, Erin replied neutrally, earning a brief nod and smile from her mother; for a moment, the elder woman just stood there, then reached out and somewhat awkwardly patted her on the shoulder, her father just nodding stiffly when she told them to get back to Michigan safely.

“And call in case you have a ghost!” the physicist then added, unable to hold back a bit of nervous laughter; another stiff nod from her father was the answer to that, and an equally nervous little laugh from her mother, before the two said their goodbyes and left, Erin letting out a heavy breath the moment the door had fallen close behind them, relieved that this visit was over and that it had ended without her parents saying something dreadful to her, not quite sure yet though what she should think of this return they had made to her life.


	5. Chapter 5

“You know”, Erin stated later that day, while opening pizza boxes and making sure they had been brought what they had ordered, “you played the role of mad scientist quite well today. You made eyebrows twitch, which doesn’t happen often. I think the last time I made it happen was more than a decade ago.”

“My dear”, Holtzmann drawled in response, looking up from the ghost trap 2.0 she was working on and raising an eyebrow, “whatever makes you think I was playing a role?”

“Good point”, Erin replied with a small laugh, moving to stand behind her and looking at what her partner was working on, “let me rephrase then, you let out the mad scientist quite a bit more than usual today. And I probably enjoyed that more than I should have.”

She leaned forward onto Holtzmann’s back and let her arms drop down over the engineer’s shoulders; smiling, Holtzmann dropped her screwdriver to take hold of the physicist’s hands with both of hers, then let her head drop back into her neck so she could look the redhead in the face as she replied.

“I don’t think you enjoyed it more than you should have”, she let her know, absent-mindedly running her thumb over the taller woman’s knuckles, “come on, after how they messed up when you were little Erin, you have every right to enjoy that. And I’d do it again, cause you looked really cute when you tried to hold back that smile. Not that you don’t look cute all the time.”

“Charmer”, Erin mumbled, bending down for a kiss afterwards, Holtzmann shrugging once they had pulled apart again, that one smile on her face again, the one only Erin ever got to see.

“Just honest”, the engineer told her, “but hey, they took the whole our-daughter-is-dating-a-lady way better than you thought they would, right?”

“When I was around to see the reaction, at least”, Erin shrugged, “I imagine they had quite a bit to say about it once we’d left the restaurant. But it seems they want to repair whatever little relationship we had, so… and I think you genuinely did impress my father with the designs, he sounded as if he meant it when he said they’re brilliant.”

“And I meant it when I said I couldn’t do it without you”, Holtzmann reassured her, earning another smile, “honestly, ask Abby, my productivity has sky-rocketed since we started working together. And the accidents are way less now!”

“And that is a good thing”, Erin solemnly told her, pulling back from the engineer at last and making her pout, “but right now, I’m keeping you from work, and that is not good. Also, I’m keeping myself from work.”

“But snuggles”, Holtzmann said in a whiney tone, earning a giggle from the physicist; eager to make the pouting stop, Erin then gave in and embraced her once more, the couple sharing another kiss, Holtzmann nodding when afterwards, Erin asked if she was satisfied now and they could get back to work.

“Satisfied for now”, she then said, picking the screwdriver up again, “but babe, you know that won’t last, so you better be prepared to provide more of that in a while.”

“Gladly”, Erin reassured her, smiling; Holtzmann grinned back at her, then bent over the ghost trap 2.0 again while Erin made her way to her desk and sat down, the soft music Holtzmann had playing mixing with the noises of the engineer’s tinkering, Erin looking up from her work every now and then to just watch her partner with a small smile curling her lips, grateful for the series of incidents which had led to this woman being such a big part of her life.

* * *

 

A few days passed, days during which the group got more work done; they were called out to two busts, which went smoothly, nobody getting hurt or slimed, and during the second of these busts, ghost trap 2.0 was tested successfully, capturing the ghost much faster than the first variant Holtzmann had built, the engineer visibly proud of the work Erin and she had done on the new and improved version, her joy only growing when Abby commented on what a great job they had done.

Every now and then, Erin found herself thinking back during these somewhat calm days, to the moment Holtzmann so casually had told her she hadn’t spoken to her father in a decade; the engineer hadn’t brought this up again, and Erin knew better than to simply ask, but she couldn’t get the moment out of her head, asking herself more than once if that was all she’d be told about the engineer’s mysterious past, or if Holtzmann would tell her more, once the time was right.

It occurred her to once that she could ask Abby, seeing that Abby had known Holtzmann longer than she did; she pushed that thought aside again quickly though, telling herself that it wouldn’t be right to go behind Holtzmann’s back like that, and that, if Holtz wanted to tell her more, she would, sooner or later.

And so, Erin made sure to keep these thoughts at bay, forcing them to the far back of her mind whenever they tried to resurface; she did the same with any thoughts about her parents, her concerns they would call more often from now on and soon try to get back to controlling her, the way they had tried before she had hurried off to college, pushing those worries down rigorously whenever they came up, telling herself that she was a grown woman in her forties and that surely, she could handle it if her parents would get any ideas.

At least, to her slight relief, the time they had spent with their daughter apparently had been sufficient; she knew that they’d be in New York for a few more days, but they hadn’t called again, and hadn’t shown up at HQ unannounced anymore either, and Erin couldn’t say that she minded, not quite ready to spend more time with them yet.

“Holtz! Erin!” Abby tore them both out of their work on the third day after the Gilberts had just dropped in at HQ without warning, “bust! Big one, too, official call this time, they said they’d have someone meet us there!”

“Meet us where?” Erin called back as she moved to the stairway, Holtzmann, as always, taking the pole down; thanks to how much faster this was, she was halfway done with putting on the coveralls by the time Erin joined them and hurriedly stepped into hers, momentarily glad that she was wearing clothing she wasn’t very attached to, figuring that she was likely to get slimed after several busts where this hadn’t happened to her.

“Roosevelt Island”, Abby told them, “apparently, they wanted to build some new housing there and stirred up a whole load of angry ghosts.”

“No surprise”, Patty threw in as she zipped up her coveralls, “they had a prison and an asylum on there in the 19th century, and, well, you know how asylums were run back then. Not a very nice place.”

“So we’ll be dealing with angry ghosts of former asylum inmates, lovely”, Erin commented, quickly tying her hair back in a loose ponytail, “we better bring some extra gear for this one.”

“Way ahead of you, Sweetheart”, Holtzmann told her, already at the locker in which they kept the extra weaponry used for bigger busts; as always, she was in charge of handing them out, and she knew who liked what, Erin being the first to receive her weapons – a proton shotgun and a couple of proton grenades – while Abby was given the proton puncher and Patty received the new and improved ghost chipper, both of them receiving several grenades as well, which they tucked into the pockets of their coveralls.

She armed herself last, with the proton machine gun they just had finished testing a short while ago; briefly, Erin felt regretful that her partner wasn’t using the two pistols she had brought to Times Square back then, remembering well how amazing she had looked wielding them and how it had made her heartrate speed up.

“Alright”, Holtzmann said, distracting her from those pleasant memories – and what did it say about her, Erin wondered, that she thought of this as pleasant, a fight for their lives and the fate of the whole city, “that should do. Let’s hit the road!”

They all hurried on to the garage, and got into Ecto-1 there, in their usual constellation – Holtzmann behind the wheel, even though Erin was sure that her driving would have been responsible for having her hair go white before its time, hadn’t it been whitened in the portal already, Erin on the passenger seat and Abby and Patty in the back, the two of them never giving up the unspoken hope that perhaps, having her girlfriend right there next to her would make Holtzmann drive a bit more carefully.

 

Clearly, it didn’t work this time, either, Holtzmann slamming her foot down onto the gas pedal the moment the garage door was open far enough to let the car fit through, the tires squealing, the sound joined by the siren Holtzmann flipped on the moment the car was on the road, people pointing and taking pictures in excitement as the vehicle rushed down the road, on to where the government men would meet them.


	6. Chapter 6

“We have civilians in there”, one of the agents let them know while they geared up out of the storage area in the back of the car, “tour group of the old prison. We did try to get them out, but the ghosts… wouldn’t let us.”

He grimaced, clearly not comfortable admitting this failure; Erin reassured him that they would care of this, and that getting the civilians, as he had put it, out was first priority, making him nod stiffly before he wished them good luck.

“Let’s go”, Abby said in response, the four of them lining up, Abby laying out the general strategy as they got moving, towards the old prison which, according to the agents, was the main area of ghost activity, the apparitions clearly enjoying it to freak out the tourists they had trapped inside.

“Our first priority is taking them out, without trapping them”, she let the others know, earning nods, “we can worry about trapping one or two, once we got the tourists out. And I’d say we start with taking out these bad boys.”

She nodded up ahead, at the two ghosts floating right in front of the small side entrance the tourists used to enter for the tours; they looked like extras from an old-time prison movie, completely with striped shirts and tattoos on their meaty arms, glowing eyes glaring at the group while the four women pulled the proton guns from their holsters.

“Erin, Holtz, the one on the left”, Abby instructed, “Patty, the other one’s ours!”

They all fired simultaneously, the streams hitting the ghosts and, with the extra juice Holtzmann had added to the proton packs for just this purpose, disintegrating them fairly quickly; they moved on, into the building, a whole group of inmate ghosts awaiting them there, with some people who had died in the asylum thrown into the mix, the hospital gowns they were wearing making them easily recognizable – along with the fact that they rushed at them the moment they came in sight, howling angrily, Erin reacting quickly by shoving the proton gun back into the holster and bringing out her shotgun instead, blasting three of them with one shot.

The next blast took out four more, while next to her, Holtzmann made use of the proton machine gun; together, they took the group apart fairly quickly, adrenaline pumping through Erin’s system by the time the last ghost had been taken care of, a happy, slightly manic grin quite a bit like the one Holtzmann sometimes showed curling her lips as she lowered the shotgun.

“This gun is amazing, Holtz”, she told her partner, earning a proud smirk, “thanks so much for making that for me, I love it.”

“My pleasure, hot stuff”, Holtzmann reassured her, glancing around to make sure no ghosts were trying to ambush them, “and you’ll have ample chance to use it further, cause I believe we are far from done here. Should we split up, guys?”

“At least until we got the tourists out”, Abby suggested, not even having to say anything anymore about who would go with whom, “we’ll take the rest of this floor, you guys go up to the second?”

Erin nodded her agreement, keeping the shotgun ready as she headed for the stairs with Holtzmann; she briefly considered calling out for the tourists trapped somewhere in the building, then decided against it – yelling would only gain the attention of the ghosts, and they’d find the tourist group sooner or later, without shouting out for them.

Clearly, Holtzmann thought the same, keeping the noises down to a minimum as she snuck down the hallway, peering into the cells lining it; the first three were empty, but in the fourth, a ghost apparently had been waiting for them to get close enough, and rushed at them the moment they were, knocking into Holtzmann and throwing her over, which turned out to be fortunate though, as this gave Erin a free line of fire, and she took that chance at once, firing at the screeching inmate, slime splattering the wall behind him as he disintegrated.

“Good shot”, Holtzmann complimented her, coming to her feet again and answering the unasked question if she was alright; Erin smiled at her, then they kept moving, a bit more cautious now, no more ghosts lurking in the cells though, making them both wonder if the ghosts all had clustered somewhere to terrorize the tourists they still had trapped somewhere in the building.

She hoped that they or Abby and Patty would find them before anyone could get hurt; and as if that thought had somehow caused it, the walkie-talkie on her hip came to life with a burst of static, Abby’s voice coming through moments later loud and clear though, clear enough to let Erin pick up the dismay in her voice, immediately wondering if someone had gotten hurt after all.

“We found them Erin”, her best friend was saying, “in… I think that was the canteen. Holtzmann’s grenades really came in handy, there was a whole bunch of ghosts down here, but they’ve been taken care of.”

“Alright, we’re coming”, Erin told her, “I think we got the ones up here, there weren’t that many. Are you okay? You sound weird.”

“Fine”, Abby replied, her curt answer only another indication that something was wrong; she exchanged a worried look with Holtzmann, then told her that they would be there in a few before she clipped the walkie-talkie back to her belt, hurrying downstairs to meet the others, unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong.

* * *

 

They found them just where Abby had said, in what apparently had been the cantina when the prison still had been in use; Abby was standing at the door, waiting for them, while Patty was with the group of tourists, talking to them, some of them crying while others just sat there and looked frightened, Erin not paying them much mind though, just relieved to see that her friends were alright.

“Erin”, Abby said, still with that weird tone in her voice; Erin focused on her, and just wanted to ask what was wrong, when another voice cried her name, and her blood ran cold at once.

“Erin!” her mother cried again, coming to her feet and detaching herself from the huddle of frightened tourists, rushing over to where her daughter was standing and staring at her, stunned, “these things! They wouldn’t let us go! We tried and they hit your father and you should have warned us, he hit his head!”

She grabbed Erin’s upper arms and got right in her face, the others too stunned as well to do anything than just stand and stare; it was apparent that Eleanor was close to hysterics, and none of them could really blame her for that, after all, they all knew that seeing a ghost up close, getting _attacked_ by one, shook a person up quite badly, and clearly, the elder woman had decided that her daughter was the perfect target for getting rid of some of that fear and terror.

“You should have warned us!” she cried again, her grip on the physicist’s arms tightening until it hurt, “we wouldn’t have come here if we had known there’s these… things here!”

“Hey now, back off”, Holtzmann was the first to snap out of her startled state, taking a step closer to the elder woman; and this distracted her from Erin, and made her focus on the engineer instead, her need to lash out clearly still quite strong as she glared at the smaller blonde.

“You!” she snapped, glaring at the engineer with an intensity that made Holtzmann rather glad that looks couldn’t kill, since she feared she would have dropped dead otherwise, “don’t you dare tell me to back off! You made our daughter gay!”

“Okay”, Holtzmann replied, carefully controlled, “you’re upset, so I’m gonna let that one slide. Patty?”

“He’s gonna be fine”, Patty answered at once, while Erin just stared at her mother, shocked by this outburst, and by what she had said to her girlfriend, “he should probably go to the hospital in case he concussed his brain, but there’s no blood and he’s answering when you speak to him.”

“Eleanor, stop yelling at them”, Richard chose this moment to weigh in, “they took care of this situation, and I’m fine, and Erin had no way of knowing that there would be… ghosts here.”

“Be quiet, you hit your head”, Eleanor snapped into his general direction; Abby raised an eyebrow at her, then let Holtzmann know that she had to tell the agents about the need for an ambulance or two – apparently, Richard hadn’t been the only one who had taken a hit – and asked if they’d be okay with a pointed look at the elder woman, making Holtzmann nod at once.

“Okay”, Patty said, coming to her feet again, “those of you are who not hurt, follow Dr Yates outside. An ambulance will come for who got a bit banged up, just to get you checked out, alright?”

“Thank you”, several of the people murmured as they walked past Erin and Holtzmann, following Abby outside; Patty stayed with those who had been hurt, thankfully just three people with Richard included, but when Erin started to move to where her father was sitting, her mother blocked her path, her eyes cold now as she stared at her daughter.

“I will take care of your father”, she said, voice as cold as her eyes, “you should go back to your _headquarters,_ with your _girlfriend._ ”

“Mom…”, Erin started, and the sound of her voice made Holtzmann’s heart clench up, and suddenly, the engineer just knew that Erin had sounded exactly like this, back then, all these years ago, when she had told her parents about the ghost at the end of her bed and they hadn’t believed her; her mother just kept staring back at her coldly for a few moments, then turned and marched to where Richard was sitting without another word, and even though the elder man gave his daughter an apologetic glance, Erin’s shoulders slumped, and her gaze focused on her shoes, Holtzmann’s heart aching for her, at how small and vulnerable she looked all at once.

“I’ll go see if Abby needs help”, the physicist mumbled, still in that small voice which broke Holtzmann’s heart; she nodded, then reached out and briefly touched her hand, Erin giving her a brief, unhappy glance, not even trying to smile, and all at once, Holtzmann felt like smacking the redhead’s mother, only a deep breath keeping her from giving in to that unhelpful impulse.

Figuring that she might make as well herself useful, instead of punching elder women who were mean to her girlfriend, Holtzmann moved to where Patty was standing, talking to one of the injured; Richard gave her an apologetic look while his wife fussed over him, but she studiously ignored him, finding it hard to believe that he hadn’t spoken up when his wife had attacked their daughter.

At least, Eleanor was too busy fussing over her husband to pay Holtzmann any mind, and make any more of her remarks; Patty, who had heard the whole thing as well, gave her friend a concerned glance, looking a bit relieved though when Holtzmann smiled at her, even though the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

Erin was quiet on the drive back to headquarters, staring out the window the whole time, not even reacting when Holtzmann briefly glanced at her and touched her upper leg at a red traffic light; and once they were back at HQ, she went upstairs immediately, still not having said a word.

“Holtz”, Abby stopped her when Holtzmann wanted to follow her at once, “don’t. Not right now. Give her some time.”

“But she looked so sad”, Holtzmann pointed out in reply, finding it hard to keep still, every instinct she had screaming at her to go upstairs and make sure Erin was okay, “I have to cheer her up, didn’t you see how sad she looked?”

“I saw”, Abby reassured her, “but I know her, if you go up there now, it won’t help. Give her half an hour at least, trust me on this.”

Holtzmann let out an unhappy sigh in reply, but nodded after all; this wasn’t the first time she saw Erin so upset, and she knew that Abby was right, that going after her right away would do more harm than good, but it was difficult to not follow her, and she bounced her leg nervously as she sat on the couch, waiting for the minutes to pass.

Somehow though, she managed to not only wait half an hour, but forty minutes; then, she couldn’t take it anymore and went upstairs to see if Erin was alright up there, and this time, Abby didn’t try to stop her, figuring that she’d have to tie Holtzmann to the nearest chair to keep her from going now.

Not wanting to startle Erin, Holtzmann didn’t bother to be quiet as she walked up the stairs; she found the physicist in the lab, sitting at her desk, not working on anything though, but toying with the Swiss army knife Holtzmann had given her quite a while ago, when she had made her very first presentation of her table of treats to the group.

“Hey”, Holtzmann greeted her, making her way to the desk and stopping next to it, “not gonna ask if you’re okay, because you’re clearly not. Do you want me to get you anything? Something to drink or, I dunno, ice cream?”

Erin shook her head, and from the way she swallowed heavily, Holtzmann could tell that she only got a non-verbal response because her partner feared she might burst into tears, should she open her mouth; from how red her eyes were, the engineer could tell that it wouldn’t be the first time Erin would cry over this, and her heart broke all over again, along with quite a bit of anger at the physicist’s mother, for treating her like this.

Not quite sure if her touch would be welcome, Holtzmann kept her hands to herself for now; Erin was still toying with the knife, looking at it as if it held the secrets of the universe and would reveal them to her if she’d just stare at it hard enough, even though her eyes did come up to meet Holtzmann’s when the engineer quietly spoke up again. “Do you want some more alone time? It’s okay if you do.”

Again, Erin shook her head, then put the knife down onto the desk and, still without uttering a word, turned slightly on the swivel chair and wrapped both arms around the engineer; immediately, Holtzmann hugged her back, rubbing her back soothingly, not saying anything, just holding her, figuring that for now, this was exactly what Erin needed.

“Sorry”, Erin finally broke the silence, after just having held on to her partner for a while, letting the feeling of Holtzmann’s arms around her and her scent filling her nostrils calm her down, “for… that awful thing my mother said to you. I should have said something to her, I’m sorry…”

“Never mind that”, Holtzmann shrugged it off at once, still rubbing her back, “and you have nothing to be sorry for, alright? Not your fault what she said.”

“I can’t believe she acted as if it was my fault”, Erin mumbled, resting her head on the other woman’s chest, the steady sound of her heartbeat helping her to calm down further, “as if I had known they’d go there and said nothing about the ghosts there. I neither knew that they were planning to go there, nor that the place would end up haunted!”

“You didn’t”, Holtzmann agreed, earning a heavy sigh from her partner; finally though, Erin pulled back to look at her, and even managed a weak smile, feeling even better when Holtzmann smiled back at her at once.

“You know”, Holtzmann then said, after they just had smiled at each other for a few seconds, “one of these days, I’m gonna film you when you use that proton shotgun. You look like a total badass wielding it. A _hot_ badass.”

It was a completely random thing to say, and had nothing at all to do with what they had been talking about a minute ago; it had the desired effect though, namely making Erin’s smile widen, a slight blush colouring her cheeks, as it always happened whenever Holtzmann said such things to her.

“That might end up being dangerous though”, the physicist pointed out, her smile widening even further when one of Holtzmann’s hands came up from her back to gently move a strand of hair out the redhead’s face and behind her ear, “you could get distracted, you know, with filming me, and then a ghost might slime on you.”

“I have you to help me clean, don’t I”, Holtzmann shrugged, clearly not all too perturbed by the thought; Erin blushed again, but smiled and nodded, then interlaced her fingers behind Holtzmann’s neck and used that new position to pull her down, kissing her tenderly, trying to convey all the things she found so hard to say through the kiss.

“Thank you”, she mumbled after they had pulled apart again, finding that the words did come after all, “for… all of this. For putting up with all of this.”

“You make it sound like a terrible chore, when it’s not”, Holtzmann shrugged, smiling, the feeling of Erin’s thumb almost absent-mindedly caressing the back of her neck sending shivers up and down her spine and making it a bit difficult to think, “I told you, I just want you to be happy. I… you mean a lot to me, you know.”

Briefly, Erin wondered if Holtzmann had been about to say something else, a confession neither of them had made so far; it had been on the tip of her own tongue quite a few times though, but she had chickened out every single time, worrying that it might be too soon, or too much, or that Holtzmann wouldn’t say it back… and even though she was quite sure that Holtzmann not saying it back was highly unlikely, judging from the way she looked at her and cared for her and touched her, she wasn’t sure what she would do, should that be the case after all.

“You mean a lot to me, too”, Erin thus said, instead of saying those three words, just three little words, but words which could have such in impact and change their relationship forever, “and you do make me happy. I hope you know that.”

Holtzmann just smiled, and pulled her close for another kiss; afterwards, Erin snuggled up close to her again, resting her head on the engineer’s shoulder, a content sigh coming from her when she felt Holtzmann’s arms wrap around her again.

“You know”, she mumbled after just enjoying how good this made her feel for a while, figuring that now, she could voice her concerns without any danger of bursting into tears again, “I haven’t spoken to my parents for six years before they called, and while I was hoping that we might get back to some sort of communication… if she sticks to the idea that this was somehow my fault, I’ll easily be able to ignore them for another six years. I don’t have to put up with this.”

“That’s the spirit”, Holtzmann encouraged her, smiling; anyone else might have told her that this was harsh, that she should try to repair the damage which had been done to the already crumbling relationship, but clearly, the engineer had other ideas, voicing them out loud moments later – and once again making Erin think back to the comment she had made about her father, the casual way she had told her that she hadn’t spoken to the man for a decade.

“Even with parents, it can’t be all take and no give”, Holtzmann was saying, “and after all the stuff they put you through, it definitely can’t be all take and no give with _your_ parents.”

Erin nodded her agreement to that, then finally pulled back from the hug, and vaguely gestured at the lab area, indicating that they both had work to do and that now, she was up to do said work; Holtzmann stole another brief kiss from her before she moved to her worktable, and Erin focused on her books and notes, smiling to herself as she began her work, once more amazed at how effortlessly Holtzmann always seemed to make her feel better.


	8. Chapter 8

“Holtzmann, I swear to God, if you touch my rice one more time, I’ll stab you in the hand with this fork”, Abby threatened, waving said fork around, Holtzmann just smirking at her around a mouthful of rice while Erin rolled her eyes, then snatched the fork from Abby’s hand, earning an indignant “Hey!” from her friend.

“No stabbing my girlfriend during lunch”, the physicist declared, holding the fork out of reach when Abby made grabby hands for it, “or during any other time, for that matter. Especially not in the hand, she needs those.”

“I bet she does”, Patty commented, and Erin flushed, hastily clarifying “For work!” while Holtzmann just chuckled; the physicist shot her partner a dirty look for the lack of clarification on her part, then gave Abby the fork back, after making her promise that nobody would be stabbed with it anytime soon.

“You are taking the danger of being stabbed with a fork quite lightly”, Erin told her, shaking her head, “and don’t tell me you’ll have me to kiss it better, because I doubt my kisses have that sort of healing power.”

“They totally do, babe”, Holtzmann claimed at once, making Erin roll her eyes again, “I’m gonna do a report on their healing powers one day, just wait. But I’ll have to put in that they only work on me cause… otherwise…”

She trailed off as something behind Erin caught her attention; curious, Erin turned in her seat, surprised to see her father standing there, the elder man looking somewhat uncomfortable, making her think to herself, somewhat crazily, that it was a pity he never wore a hat, because if he did, he could have been turning and twisting it in his hands now.

“Um, I’m not interrupting anything, am I”, he said, looking at them as they all sat there, obviously having lunch, “I should have called ahead, I know, but I don’t have the number and your mother, Erin, is being unreasonable, so I just came here.”

“Unreasonable”, Erin echoed, not quite sure what to think of this, and quite glad that her parents usually were in Michigan, where they couldn’t just drop in on her like this whenever they felt like it, “that is one way to put it, I suppose. But… I’m glad you are alright. You are alright, right?”

“Yes, fine”, Richard reassured her, moving to the table they all were sitting at, only to realize that there was no free chair for him, “just a light concussion, they kept me in over night to make sure it’s not more than that, and released me this morning. We’re going back to Michigan tomorrow, no offense, but we’ve had quite enough of New York. I just wanted to…”

He trailed off and looked uncomfortable, fidgeting nervously for a moment – before he, with an effort they all could see easily, cleared his throat and straightened up, making sure to look at all of them as he continued.

“I wanted to thank you all for your help at the prison”, he stated, his gaze focusing on Holtzmann afterwards, “and, Dr Holtzmann, I apologize for the remarks my wife made towards you. They were uncalled for and rude, and I reassure you she didn’t mean any of it, she was just upset.”

“Don’t sweat it”, Holtzmann replied casually, with a dismissive wave of her hand, “it’s all good. And call me Holtzmann, everyone does.”

“Um, certainly”, Richard gave back, then looked at his daughter again, “Erin? Could we speak in private for a moment?”

“…sure”, Erin said, feeling Holtzmann briefly touch her hand as she came to her feet; her father smiled at her, and they made their way to the front of the firehouse, where the others could see them, but not quite hear them, Holtzmann watching curiously how the elder man started to talk, feeling a bit less tense about this situation when she saw Erin relax noticeably.

Her father spoke for a bit longer, then Erin nodded and gave a brief answer; and then, they hugged, somewhat stiffly and just for a few seconds, but it was a hug, and Richard was smiling when he left after a brief wave at the others, and Erin smiled too when she walked back to the table.

“He apologized”, she let them know as she sat down again, “for… everything. It doesn’t fix everything, but it’s a start.”

“I’m glad for you”, Abby smiled, reaching over to place her hand on Erin’s arm, “and I bet your mom will come around, too.”

“Perhaps”, Erin gave back, picking her fork up again, “he said she’s a bit more freaked about Holtzmann and me than she let on, but… Well, they’re going back to Michigan tomorrow, and are not planning to come back here anytime soon, so I won’t notice any of her being freaked, and won’t have to care about it.”

“Good thinking”, Holtzmann smirked, earning a smile from her partner; then, Erin picked up her fork again, signalling that the interruption was over, and they continued their lunch, joking with each other and ribbing each other, Erin feeling as if a great weight had been removed from her chest, only now fully realizing how much the apology had meant to her.

* * *

 

After lunch, Holtzmann and Erin made their way back upstairs to the lab; they worked in silence there for a while, then Holtzmann spoke up, something in her tone making Erin look at her immediately, even though she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.

“I’m glad your father apologized to you”, the engineer was saying, keeping her gaze focused on the weapon she was working on, “I could tell that it meant a lot to you.”

“It did”, Erin confirmed, putting her pen down, “like I said, it doesn’t fix everything that happened, but it was a good start…”

She trailed off, realizing that she had to say the right thing, the words which would nudge Holtzmann into the right direction; from how overly concentrated Holtzmann was on her work now, Erin could tell that she had made this remark with a certain goal in mind, but wasn’t quite there yet, and if she couldn’t find the right words, the moment would pass, and who knew when another one would come up, and she could tell that this was something Holtzmann wanted to get off her chest, but couldn’t, not without help.

Figuring that being closer to the smaller woman would be a good start, Erin got up from her seat, and moved to stand behind her; she placed both hands on her shoulders, and immediately felt how tense Holtzmann was, only another indicator that something wasn’t quite right.

“I’m glad your dad’s fine, too”, Holtzmann abruptly said, lowering the screwdriver, her muscles practically thrumming beneath Erin’s palms when she began rubbing her shoulders, “and that we didn’t need to visit him in the hospital. I mean, I would have gone there with you but… hospitals kinda freak me out. I guess you noticed when I was there.”

“I did”, Erin confirmed, never stopping the tender caresses of her shoulders, kneading a bit now and then to help the muscle loosen up, “and if you want to tell me why, I’m here to listen. If not, that is okay, too.”

“I want to”, Holtzmann almost whispered, sounding so unlike her usual cheerful self that it made Erin’s heart clench up, “but… I don’t know if I can. I never told anyone, I went to college and got away and just tried to… ignore it. It works most of the time.”

She took in a deep breath, then let the screwdriver fall own onto the desk and placed her hands on the physicist’s, and immediately, Erin could feel how sweaty her palms were, and her chest tightened up painfully as she fully realized how difficult this was for her partner.

“My mom died in a hospital”, it suddenly blurted out of the engineer, “when I was seven. Cancer. Before that, things were good, but after… My dad started drinking. When he drank, he got… mean.”

Sensing that Holtzmann had more to say, Erin remained quiet, just rubbed her shoulders a bit more; impossibly, she could feel the blonde tense up even further, but she did continue after half a minute had ticked by, sounding oddly distant now, as if she was talking about something she had read in a book, and not events which actually had happened to her.

“He got so mean that he put me into the hospital a few times”, she let Erin know, staring off at some vague point in the distance, “which is why I’m not a big fan of them and asked you to stay back then, like a scared little kid. I put up with it until I got accepted into MIT, I left the day I got the letter of acceptance and haven’t spoken to him since. And I’ll never get… anything from him, not that I care to get anything from him, if he came to apologize I’d tell him where he can stuff it but…”

She fell silent and took in a shaky, watery breath, and Erin realized with alarm that her lover was close to tears; she never had seen Holtzmann cry before, the engineer had been close to it during her heartfelt toast after they had saved the city, but the tears hadn’t fallen back then, and from how she could feel Holtzmann tense up even further, as impossible as that had seemed moments ago, she was trying hard to not let them fall now, either.

“Sweetheart”, Erin began, then realized with terror that she no idea what to say now, “I… I’m so sorry, nobody should have to go through this…”

She bent down for an embrace, and it felt awkward and clumsy, due to their positions, with her standing behind the sitting Holtzmann; but suddenly, she knew what to say, and she moved to face her partner, taking her face in her hands, making sure to capture her gaze as she continued, her voice soft, but secure now.

“You don’t need anything from him”, she told the engineer, “you don’t need him to validate you in any way, shape or form. You’re an amazing person, you’re brilliant, and kind and always know what to say or do to cheer someone up and I love you.”

Clearly, Holtzmann hadn’t quite been expecting this, looking startled, but just for a second, Erin noted – then she smiled, the secret smile only Erin ever got to see, and her eyes were still glistening suspiciously, but the watery sound was gone from her voice, such warmth and happiness and love filling it now that it made Erin’s heart clench up again, even though this time, it felt oddly good.

“I love you, too”, Holtzmann told her, and Erin had a moment to smile at her, and then Holtzmann pulled her closer and their lips almost smashed together, but it still felt good, so good, and she was so ridiculously happy that she finally had said it.

“I love you”, Erin said again after the kiss, as if to make sure that she got her point across, “all of you, mad scientist vibes and all. I love you, Holtz. Does it seem weird to call you Holtz when I say that?”

“Not to me”, Holtzmann shrugged, pulling her down so she ended up sitting in her lap, “if it makes you feel better, I can say, I love you, hot stuff? I love you, babe? I love you, Gilbert?”

“The last one sounds wrong”, Erin decided, then found herself giggling, suddenly giddy and light-headed; Holtzmann chuckled, as well, then pulled her down for another deep kiss, and all was well and there was no more pain, no need to cry, just joy and love and the reassurance that they had each other, no matter what.


	9. Epilogue

“I wonder”, Erin murmured hours later, as they laid in bed together, her head resting on the engineer’s shoulder – even though she was technically taller, at least a tiny bit, they often ended up like this, the feeling of Holtzmann resting beneath her and both of the engineer’s arms around her just making her feel so _good_ , “can extended periods of ridiculous happiness be bad for one’s health?”

“I don’t think so”, Holtzmann replied with a small laugh, the sound making Erin smile as well, “why? Are you ridiculously happy?”

“Yes”, Erin told her, shifting slightly so she could look her in the face, “how could I not be? I told you I love you, and you said it back, of course that makes me ridiculously happy.”

“You didn’t think I wouldn’t say it back, did you”, Holtzmann demanded to know, raising an eyebrow; Erin blushed, and cleared her throat, and shrugged as far as her position allowed it, her cheeks still reddened visibly when she replied. “Well, no. But kind of, yes. Maybe? Part of me? Neurotic, anxious mess, remember.”

“You’re not a mess”, Holtzmann contradicted her, as she always did when Erin said such things about herself, “and even if you were, you’re _my_ mess, and I love you. Don’t ever forget that.”

“That is the first time ever someone called me their mess and I found it sweet”, Erin told her, giggling; Holtzmann smirked and winked at her, then kissed her tenderly, the physicist smiling at her somewhat dreamily afterwards, moving one hand to run it through the engineer’s locks as she spoke up again.

“You know”, she stated, suddenly unable to keep the tremble out of her voice, but not caring, not bothered by letting Holtzmann hear it, “before I met Abby… again, after we hadn’t been speaking for years, I mean… and before I met you… I thought I’d never have… all of this. Friends, I mean, and… someone to love, and who’d love me back.”

“Bet you never imagined that said someone would end up being the mad scientist of a team of Ghostbusters”, Holtzmann commented, earning another giggle while Erin shook her head, her hand drifting from the engineer’s hair to her stomach afterwards, tracing invisible numbers and equations onto the warm skin there, the solemn tone returning to her voice when she replied.

“Never imagined that, no”, she admitted, “and I certainly didn’t imagine that it’d be a woman. But… I never thought I’d have all of this, and now, here we are, and I’m just so… happy. As if I swallowed a little ball of sunshine and it’s lighting me up from within.”

“Please don’t swallow sunshine, babe, you would die”, Holtzmann replied sincerely, making her laugh yet again, “and I’d be super-sad if you died, I mean it. And, well… about the rest you said…”

She shifted slightly so she could look Erin the eyes, her sudden humour gone from her gaze, replaced with an uncharacteristic seriousness, but also warmth in it which made Erin’s spine tingle pleasantly.

“I know how you feel”, the engineer let her know, her fingers trailing lightly over her arm and shoulder, making goosebumps appear there, “been there, done that, until I met Abby, then the rest of you. That toast I made after the Rowan Incident was completely true, you know.”

“And to love is what you have shown me”, Erin quoted back at her, and from the way Holtzmann’s eyes softened, Erin could tell that her girlfriend was touched that she had remembered, and with the exact wording, too.

“And you keep showing me”, the engineer told her, quiet and serious, “every day. Nah, every hour, every minute. I love you.”

“I love you, too”, Erin told her, and kissed her again; it still felt as amazingly good and sweet and right as it had the very first time she had done this, and for a moment, she wondered if it’d always feel like this, then forced her mind to shut up for once so she could focus on these feelings fully, once more marvelling at how happy she was, and determined to enjoy this to the fullest for as long as it would last.


End file.
